A high-ranking Russian military official responsible for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CRBN) was reportedly killed in a blast in Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday that Major General Igor Kirillov and his aide, Ilya Polykarpov, were killed when a scooter exploded near an apartment entrance in the Russian capital.
Surveillance footage from nearby vehicles captured the moment of detonation as the two men exited the building. Russian state media claimed Ukraine had been monitoring Kirillov using dashcams in parked cars.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov commanded Russia’s CBRN defense forces and faced accusations of ordering banned chemical weapon attacks in Ukraine. The WSJ noted this assassination marks one of Ukraine’s most daring operations on Russian soil, with Kirillov being the highest-ranking officer killed in central Moscow since the war’s outbreak.
Ukrainian officials reportedly claimed the attack was a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The incident occurred just one day after the SBU named Kirillov as a war crimes suspect, alleging over 4,800 instances of chemical weapon use under his command since the full-scale invasion began.
Moscow has labeled the incident as terrorism and launched an investigation. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, told state media that “Ukraine is trying to prolong war and death,” adding that law enforcement must “find the murderer and do everything to destroy him.”
During a press briefing, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder stated, “Yeah — I can tell you we were not aware of this operation in advance. We do not support or enable those kinds of activities.”
This is not the first high-profile killing in Moscow linked to the Ukraine conflict. Darya Dugina, daughter of influential Putin ally Alexander Dugin, was killed in a car bombing outside the capital in 2022. While Ukraine denied involvement, U.S. intelligence assessed it as a Ukrainian operation.
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